As more toddlers get cochlear implants, they face a strange new world

faire_jour said:
The cochlea is full adult size at birth.
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That's what I read. The outside ear is what keep growing... but an infant inner ear is a fully grown ear which is why they can hear as good as adults, sometimes better.
 
anyone here has CI since childhood? I am curious about how it is like living with CI from childhood to adulthood..
 
firetop said:
anyone here has CI since childhood? I am curious about how it is like living with CI from childhood to adulthood..
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Lissa got hers at 10.

Coolgirlspyer90 was implanted 9 years ago and she is still high school, which means she was pretty young....
 
faire_jour said:
Lissa got hers at 10.

Coolgirlspyer90 was implanted 9 years ago and she is still high school, which means she was pretty young....
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There is a AD'er who got implanted at 4 and she is in her 20's,can't remember who it is though
 
rockdrummer said:
If a parent elects a CI for their child then naturally they would opt for an oral route. Why else go through the risks of surgury and the expense of a CI? My only comment would be to ensure you have a plan B in the event the CI is of no benefit.
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Why cant it be both? That is what I never could understand. By making a Plan B wont help because the child would have suffered language delays or deficits and even finally learning ASL later, the child's language development are usually so compromised that they could never get over the delays or deficits. I see that on a daily basis and it is ridiculous. The PreK class at my work are all above their age level for language development because their parents allowed them access to language (both spoken and signed).
 
shel90 said:
Why cant it be both? That is what I never could understand. By making a Plan B wont help because the child would have suffered language delays or deficits and even finally learning ASL later, the child's language development are usually so compromised that they could never get over the delays or deficits. I see that on a daily basis and it is ridiculous. The PreK class at my work are all above their age level for language development because their parents allowed them access to language (both spoken and signed).
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I never said it couldn't be both. The reference to Plan B was in the event there is no benefit from the CI.
 
doubletrouble said:
Well I am a CODA and I was speech and language delayed until I was in 6th grade. I had to go to speech 3x a week to "catch" up, as well as my siblings and some other CODA children. It's not so simple
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yes, I understand that, but you eventually catch up. I am not sure a child with CI will ever catch up with hearing people. Why, because natural hearing is just NOT the same as CI. We can take the same amount of speech therapy (btw, I don't think I ever had therapy more than once a week) and still wouldn't be able to be on the same level as hearing peers.
 
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firetop said:
anyone here has CI since childhood? I am curious about how it is like living with CI from childhood to adulthood..
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i got the CI when i was 7. i'm now 22. i wore it regularly and attended audiological and speech therapy (i started speech therapy when i was very young, like 4 or something) up until 17. the therapy wasn't working out for me.. i wasn't getting any better at speech and i still couldn't understand spoken english at that point. i could tell what certain noises sounded like, such as a cat meowing or a guitar being played, though. i got in a huge fight with my dad (i have a hearing family) about my decision to stop wearing the CI and i ended up running away from home for a while. i noticed that my dad finally accepted my deafness (i don't get it, i was raised with sign language.. but anyway) after i graduated high school in the top 10% and went off to college. it's sad, but better late than never.

i still don't really use my CI. i only use it when i'm home alone (which is very rare, i live with four roommates) and when i get the urge to listen to instrumental/electronica music.
 
Lighthouse77 said:
yes, I understand that, but you eventually catch up. I am not sure a child with CI will ever catch up with hearing people. Why, because natural hearing is just NOT the same as CI. We can take the same amount of speech therapy (btw, I don't think I ever had therapy more than once a week) and still wouldn't be able to be on the same level as hearing peers.
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Research shows that a certain percetage will catch up, and catch up very quickly (25%), another group will be a little slower, but will still catch up, but could use some visual support (46%), and there is another group that won't catch up and won't be oral language users but still benefit at the word level (29%). And then the rest don't benefit or become non-users.
 
faire_jour said:
Research shows that a certain percetage will catch up, and catch up very quickly (25%), another group will be a little slower, but will still catch up, but could use some visual support (46%), and there is another group that won't catch up and won't be oral language users but still benefit at the word level (29%). And then the rest don't benefit or become non-users.
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That adds up in your numbers to 100 percent.

I does not allow room for non-users.
 
Bottesini said:
That adds up in your numbers to 100 percent.

I does not allow room for non-users.
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I'm sorry, you are right, those were the pre-implant numbers.

The numbers from the study I was referencing are:

24.05% become fully caught up to their hearing peers and no longer need therapy. They are the "stars" who catch up very quickly and without huge interventions.

46.70% become fully caught up within the three years, but continue to need therapy. They are on a slower track but still reach all the milestones. They are also fully auditory learners, but many use visual cues such as lipreading.

24.90% never become auditory-verbal communicators. They are primarily visual language users, and never go beyond the word level with spoken language.

4.35% are non-users or gain no benefit.
 
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